B-Skill achieves Gold status for work on Equality and Diversity

NEWS Training specialist B-Skill has achieved a prestigious gold status for its work to ensure the business meets the very highest standards of equality and diversity in the workplace.

The Newcastle-based trainer, which operates across the UK, obtained 91.9 per cent in its latest audit by the National Equality Standard, Committed2Equality (C2E). The 2015 score jumped from the 85.9 per cent and silver status that B-Skill achieved when it was audited for the first time last year.

The C2E audit assesses how an organisation promotes equality and diversity among its own staff, with its customers and stakeholders, and how well it is meeting the demands of the 2010 Equality Act. This includes equal treatment for all regardless of age, disability, race, religion and sexual orientation. A high score in a C2E audit demonstrates that an organisation has taken steps to ensure equality within the workplace and is committed to diversity at every level.

B-Skill’s HR specialist, Emma Storey, said: “C2E came out and audited us on everything from our recruitment practices to how we deal with our employees and subcontractors. It looks at every part of the company and what we are doing to ensure equality and diversity.

“We were able to increase our score and achieve the gold standard this year because we followed the action plan issued by C2E after our first audit. We have gone that step further and have increased the equality and diversity work we with do with our suppliers and subcontractors.”

B-Skill is committed to achieving an even higher score in 2016 and is already working to meet the very highest standard of recommendations made by C2E for the year ahead.

The C2E gold standard is beneficial to businesses when bidding for new contracts and also demonstrates to new employees that the company committed to treating them fairly.

Ms Storey added: “We are very proud of our gold status as it does recognise how seriously we take equality and diversity as a business and the work we do in relation to this.

“We are now following the guidelines set out in our new Quality Improvement Plan. No matter how well you are doing, there are always ways to improve and we are aiming to achieve an even better score in 2016.”